


Only shooting stars break the mould

by Louie_writes



Series: Buta no Juzei [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Hogwarts AU, M/M, RIP me, also idk how to tag things, also this is techcially a backstory not a main, and its full of japanese people, anyways anjoy this, but who will stop me from posting things out of order?, dont', except my pet peeve is when your in a brotish school, it was my spouses birthday and i needed a fic rip me rip them, jsut don't ask, jsut wait until the trowizard tournament there its 2 more original schools, so i made a japanese hogwarts from scartch within the harry potter universe, that i made up form scrathc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2020-08-10 20:06:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20141233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louie_writes/pseuds/Louie_writes
Summary: Chapter title from All Star by Smash Mouth yea you heard me deal with it.This fic is dedicated to my dear friend, absolute soul mate, and sweetest darling dear Lakey McLake whose birthday it was (this is a little late. but only a little). they are a blessing to my life and deserve all the good things in the world bless them. wish them a happy bday if you cannow enjoy akaashi going to "hogwarts"





	1. Only Shooting Stars break the Mold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MangaManiac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MangaManiac/gifts).

Keiji felt weird.

Foreign.

The train was packed full of children and teenagers of various ages, all wearing matching, black gowns, as it was customary in the school.

Something sparking and seemingly exploding flew into his face, and he only barely dodged it before it could burn his skin. He watched it fly off through the rest of the train, and watched a group of kids his age squeeze past him without a regard for him, chasing after it.

There was just too much at once.

For one, up until about a month ago, a teacher showed up on his doorstep, explained that magic was real, and invited him to this bizarre boarding school called _ Buta no Juzei _ , the sister school of some school in Britain that he had never even heard of either called _ Hogwarts. _

Up until then, he hadn’t even truly believed in magic. Sure, there had been unexplainable things happening around him, but those were just as much of a riddle to him as physics was, on a mathematical level. Keiji always sought for answers, but when he couldn’t find one he would leave things unexplained.

So when luck was in his favour unusually often, like when he’d get a lucky draw, or when he wished for a green light, he had just thought he was one of those super lucky people.

Sakura from his parallel class was so good at maths she was competing nationally with it, and Azuka from two years up was to acrobatic she had coaches fighting for a contract with her.

So it wasn’t _ all _that weird that Keiji himself was unnaturally lucky.

Though he second-guessed his constant luck when he opened another cabin door and got weird looks and awkward silences from the people already inhabiting it. Without saying a thing he closed the door again.

And walked backwards into a person that had held some sort of warm, pumpkin-y smelling beverage in his hand. 

That was now slowly soaked through Keiji’s gown.

Keiji profusely apologised for his error, but the person he had bumped into, a bit older than him, just cussed him out and turned around to leave again.

Keiji moved further down the train, hoping for a cabin that was at least _ somewhat _ empty, so he would be less awkward about asking to join.

In all honesty, how come ALL the students had formed cliques and groups already?

Were they all _ purebloods _? Were there so few like him, from families of… muggles?

There was a sweets trolley moving past him. 

“Some sweet dear? Drinks?”  
  
“No I, uh,” He mumbled, before nodding at her and ducking away.

Their currency system was so different, Keiji was too scared to buy anything because even though he had converted some coins, he had no clue how much anything normally cost, and how much he would need for school supplies throughout the year, after all, parchment rolls and ink glasses may not hold for as long as he needed them to.

As he desperately approached the last few cabins of the train and already dreaded having to make his way back but with less dignity and lower standards, he thought about his school.

Keiji had truly been drinking up all that knowledge of a full-on new world he hadn’t known about when his teacher had visited. He had immediately asked the teacher, an equally kind and intimidating man called Ukai, where he could read up on it, and the teacher had laughed and said that it was his job to help their family with getting school supplies and all the wizarding history books he wanted 

Keiji reached the third last chamber of the train, dread sat heavy in his stomach, and he barely dared to breathe. Three girls were inside. Two about his age, and one a bit older than him, all laughing and playing with each other.

This was the least intimidating cabin of them all.

He opened the door tentatively and peeked inside.

“Excuse me,” he said in a small voice, “do you mind if I sit here?”

The biggest girl, she had blond hair and a ponytail, laughed wholeheartedly.

“Are all the cabins full? Sounds about right. Come in, we don’t bite.” She winked at him, and he nodded awkwardly and swallowed hard, and made to sit next to the window.

Keiji stopped for half a second longer, suddenly feeling awkward being a buy invading these girls private space. “I really don’t mean to intrude on your privacy.”

“No man, it’s fine,” the blonde one answered for the group, “we have more friends joining us later, you’ll fit right in.”

Keiji nodded, and after _ just _ a moment longer, went inside to sit on one of the benches. He had two girls in front of him, and one to his side, that he left the most amount of space for so her _ actual _ friends could occupy that space if they so desired.

“What’s your name, new kid?” The tall girl asked him. “You don’t have any house colours yet, so you must be a first-year.”

Keiji swallowed again and nodded.

“I’m Akaashi Keiji. A first-year.”

The girl next to him on the bench gasped and scooted closer to him. Uncomfortably close. She took his hand and said, “oh god me too! Both my cousins are already at Juzei but it's my first time and I’m so nervous. Are you nervous?”

Keiji nodded at her. He had the urge to twitch away from her, feeling odd with her hand on his, but he was also too awkward to address it. 

She had big eyes, and chin long, light brown hair that framed her face in gentle waves. It all made her look exceptionally adorable.

“I am a bit nervous, yes.” Understatement of the year.

The adorable first-year girl released his hand finally and laid a hand on her chest.

“I’m Aiyaka Thompson. I’m a half-blood. I was born and raised in America, and I actually _ just _ got my letter from Ilvermorny before we moved to Japan to be closer to family. Now I go to Juzei since my cousins are here as we found out.” She scrunched her face up the way an adorable, suffering cat would have, and said, “it’s going to be just me and the boys. Luckily my cousins are in their last year. But they’re going to tease me so much.”

The tall, blonde girl laughed loudly at her expense, “sucks to be you,” she said, then she turned to Keiji.

“I’m Sato Izumi. I’m a fourth year. I have two sisters and a brother at school. All except the youngest play quidditch, so I get to beat them a lot since my team isn’t shit.” She laughed wholeheartedly again.

“Oh shut it, Izumi,” the final girl said. She had shoulder length, red hair, and possibly more freckles than skin.

“Ravenclaw has been giving Griffindor a run for its money lately.” Keiji’s eyes lit up. He knew that name! And Keiji was interested in Quidditch, though he couldn’t quite understand the rules from just reading the rule book and history notes on it. He was excited to see it all in action though.

“Oh be quiet Momoko, Ravenclaw doesn’t stand a chance. You haven’t won a cup in three years. That was even before your time.”

Momoko pouted at Izumi, her arms crossed and her cheeks puffed like a particularly furious hamster.

“What houses do you guys think you will get in?” Izumi asked the first years in general.

“Oh my, oh my,” Aiyaka said, like the cartoon version of an adorable, stressed girl, looking at the ceiling with a finger on her chin.

“My cousins are both in Griffindor, but honestly I want to go to a more quiet place, like Hufflepuff.”

Keiji did a mental check-up with all the information already stored in his brain. He had harassed the teacher with questions about the school, including the houses, and one of the first books the teacher sought out for him was “Hogwarts: a history”, which included the history of the founders of the mother school, and what each house stood for.

He was impressed by the values of brevity and chivalry of Griffindoor, and he adored the values of hard work, patience, and loyalty in Hufflepuff.

Izumi scoffed. “Hufflepuff is the lame house. Come to us Griffindoors, we know how to party.” She winked at Aiyaka.

“Now technically there is nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff, you see-“ started Momoko with what was sure to be a rant. 

Izumi stuck her tongue out at her in disgust, making quite vile noises, and Aiyaka interrupted her, stating, “Oh Merlin, if you already have to say ‘technically’ then it's bad.”

Momoko put her furious hamster face on again, and Izumi ignored the scene entirely, instead turning to Keiji and asking, “What about you. You seem so cool and quiet. I bet you’d make a good Slytherin.”

Slytherins were ambitious, resourceful, taught to be leaders. A truly intriguing house as well.

“Oh Merlin no, we can’t have that!” Aiyaka exclaimed, taking Keiji’s hands into her own again, without noticing the twitch in his eye at her action. “Any house but not Slytherin.”

Izumi stuck her tongue out at her.

“What, you afraid he’s gonna turn into a dark wizard or something? Where is your sense of adventure?”

“It’s possible!” Aiyaka exclaimed, as if in real concern.

“Buzzkill, Buzzkill!” Izumi teased her, then she turned to Keiji. “But honestly, where do you think you’ll go?”

Keiji thought for a moment. Well, he wasn’t really that sure, but he’d asked mister Ukai so many questions the man had laughed and made a comment about him being a good fit for Ravenclaw, so… Keiji shrugged, “I was told I would fit well into Ravenclaw.” 

Izumi rolled her eyes and declared the statement ‘lame’, and Momoko made a Victory fist.

Just at that moment the door to their cabin burst open, and three boys tried to squeeze themselves in at the same time, all of them with arms full of candy.

The girls got up to take the candy off them, and they all had loud arguments about who deserved what and in which amounts.

Keiji sat on his seat unmoving and barely dared to breathe.

Out of the chaos, one of the boys finally noticed him. Brown curls framed his face, and acne hid in seas of freckles.

“Who’s that?” He said with a truly intimidating force in his eyes.

“Das’ Akaashi,” Izumi said, her mouth full of food, “he’s a first-year and couldn’t find a place to sit.”

The boy nodded at him and then turned back to the candy. Izumi hit his arm.

“Oi, introduce yourself, where are your manners?”

The boy made a show to roll his eyes and then bowed excessively to portray his disinterest in the situation.

“Name’s Hitori. I’m a third-year, half-blood, Slytherin. Most of my family is magical, magic skipped most of my generation though except for me. It’s weird.” He looked Keiji up and down and declared, “you’re decent.” Before delving back into the candy pile, and leaving Keiji very confused about what to think about that statement.

Then A boy with slick, black hair, and glasses turned to him. He was one of the tallest in the cabin, and somehow emitted a calculated calm that was jarring amidst the wild beasts hunting for candy.

“Fujioka Takahiro, pleasure to meet you. I’m about as pureblood as they come these days, fourth-year, Ravenclaw. Please feel free to ask me any questions you have about the school, or about magic in general.” He turned toward the pile, pulling out some sort of golden package and gently tossing it to Keiji. “Welcome to Buta no Juzai. If you like sweets, you should eat one before they’re all gone.”

Keiji was so in awe and flattered that his heart skipped a beat.

Keiji didn’t have a chance to thank him, though, because at that moment the last boy, the tallest of the troupe, stood up to his full height, making direct eye contact with Keiji from across his group of friends.

“Shinichi. Fouth year. Griffindor. Beater. If you play quidditch I like you.” He then leaned down again and dug into the food pile.

Keiji swallowed hard and hugged his golden chocolate.

——

“I’m telling you, he’s cheating!” Shinichi yelled at Izumi who grinned manically.

“You’re just pissed that Mori blocked all your balls.” She said with a derogatory laugh.

“He’s a second year, and there is just no way that a mudblood can play like that in his second-year,” Shinichi said with a sneer.

Momoko gasped. “Shinichi, that’s a slur!”

Shinichi rolled his eyes. “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

Momoko made her angry hamster face again.

“Yea,” Izumi added, “people got more prissy about that after the war.”

Keiji didn’t know what was going on, but he was severely uncomfortable with the situation.

“And he’s not nearly as much as a pain as that third year from Hufflepuff,” Hitori responded in disdain.

Half the group groaned in agreement.

After a moment of no resolution, Keiji was too curious to just let the statement sit.

“What’s with the Hufflepuff third year?”

They all looked at him in surprise, he had been rather quiet after all.

“He’s a pain in the ass to deal with on the court,” Hitori said with a roll in his eyes and a groan.

“He is an exquisite chaser,” Takahiro added, “he shows quite the amount of talent and there is an immeasurable force behind his shots. I dread to see him play in seventh-year.”

“And,” Izumi said with a bit of drama, “he has this really scary look on his face.” Groans and agreement from the rest of the cabin. “He gets this weird, piercing look in his eye. Goes straight through your soul.”

“I agree,” Takahiro said with narrowed eyebrows, “it gives me shivers.”

“Whatever,” Shinichi said, “I’m gonna beat him anyway. Make him regret ever playing.”

Keiji swallowed thickly. He was a little intimidated, but he would try to wait and see for himself what this seemingly scary person was like before he made any judgments. 

* * *

To Keiji’s absolute and utter dread he was forcefully separated from his newfound friends. Save for Aiyaka, his fellow first-year, who shivered with nerves and held his hand tightly as they stepped into the boats that every first-year used to cross the lake and reach the castle.

The sight was beautiful; he had to give them that. It was evening already, and the moon and stars reflected on the lake’s surface.

Every now and again something would break the surface to nibble on someone’s curious, outstretched hand, but never long enough to distinguish if the being was something otherworldly or just a fish.

Keiji helped Aiyaka out of the boat after they arrived, and the group of first years huddled together as they made their way through the castle.

Stone walls and high ceilings surrounded them. It was all awe-inspiring and there were tapestries and stained glass windows that showed some sort of history that Keiji had yet to learn

Someone else from the group knew every story, though.

“The castle is an exact replica of the school in Britain.” A voice from the crowd said. If the kids had been any louder, the voice would have been hushed, but the group was too intimidated to be loud, and so the halls echoed every word to curious ears. “They wanted to have everything the same to keep up tradition and to possibly make things easier for transfer students.” 

“Look! There is the aftermath of the battle of Hogwarts.”

That Armour will come to life if we’re ever attacked.”

And a depiction of Harry Potter himself over there.”

“Jota, stop babbling.”

Quiet giggles went through the crowd, and they arrived at the great door.

A tall and intimidating woman stood before them and introduced herself as a teacher of the school, briefing them on what was about to happen.

Keiji swallowed thickly. The sorting.

The great doors opened, and loud chatter and warm light overwhelmed the previously underexposed and noise restricted first years.

Keiji couldn’t keep his mouth from gaping. The halls were _ massive _ and beautiful. 

They were decked in the green, red, blue, and yellow of each house.

_ Slytherin _. Keiji thought. He could feel his cheeks blush and he was excited to be part of this massive body of magical students as of today.

“Do you think that’s him?” Aiyaka said. Keiji followed her finger to where she pointed at a table full of students in black robes with yellow accents.

Standing out from the group was a guy, taller and wider than the kids around him. He made straight eye-contact with Keiji or maybe just the group of first years in general, and it was so piercing that Keiji wasn’t quite certain if he had peed himself a little or not.

“Oh, you mean that big guy?” A boy next to Aiyaka asked, with a voice that was barely a hush. “Yeah, I know him. My big brother has potions with him. He’s dumb as a rock and really weird.”

Aiyaka giggled. “Really? And to think that I was scared of him.”

A girl behind Aiyaka joined the conversation, a concerned look on her face.

“No, you definitely should be scared. My sister said he beat up a guy one time because he was looking at him funny.”

Aiyaka gasped in shock.

“He’s a freak.” Someone else from the crowd said.

Keiji’s had enough. He knew next to NOTHING about that guy and honestly, his first impression scared Keiji a little bit. But if everybody was already against him on the GET GO before even getting to know him that just meant that Keiji would get to know him and become his friend, be it the last thing he damn well did.

“Akaashi Keiji.” The teacher at the front called, holding a big hat in one hand and a scroll of parchment in the other. It was the same teacher that had given Keiji his briefing a month ago, but Keiji barely noticed that.

All nervousness about being judged in front of peers forgotten he marched to the front and sat himself on the stool to be sorted by the hat.

_ Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. _He thought with determination.

_ “How curious.” _

  
  


The hat said, inside on Keiji’s brain. Keiji was so determined to make a friend with the odds stacked against him that he wasn’t even thrown for a loop when he had to share his head with someone else.

  
  


_ “Hufflepuff wouldn’t have been my first choice for you, but if you insist I’ll see what I can do.” _

  
  


_ Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. _

  
  


_ “Let’s see then. A curious and intelligent mind like yours I would have loved to seen in Ravenclaw. Your mind would flourish there and you would probably cause some great changes in the magic world, with the right sort of support.” _

  
  


_ Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. _

  
  


_ “On the other hand, a heart as kind as yours needs to be nurtured. Great minds don’t suffer from kind companions, and in times like these we need to value kindness and love.” _

  
  


_ Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. Get me into Hufflepuff. _

  
  


_ “Hmm, yes… the right house for you is…” _

**“HUFFLEPUFF!!”**

Keiji didn’t even bother with cheer or relief. He didn’t sit down were some second years were pointing at a free seat for him. He shot right past some curious looks from his clapping and cheering housemates and probably students from other houses as well. Because he _ would _ make himself a seat across from the big kid with the big, bright eyes and he _ would _befriend him.

Keiji squeezed himself between two kids much bigger than himself, who quickly shuffled as much as they could to give him space. 

Keiji looked at the kid across from him with determination and gave him his hand.

“My name is Akaashi Keiji. I want to be your friend.”

The other kid looked at him befuddled for a moment, just long enough to give Keiji cold feet. But then his face split into a smile so blindingly bright it made Keiji’s heart skip a beat.

“That’s awesome! I wanna be your friend too! My name is Bokuto Koutaru.”


	2. You and I could take over the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from Paul Walkers 'You and I'
> 
> and inspired by akaashi'S line 'we are the protagonists of the world

The material they covered was quite interesting indeed.

Their teacher was a substitute, as they were in many other subjects. Since the school was still quite young it struggled with finding permanent staff, or so Keiji had heard.

The magic would take it’s time before it lost its novelty value and consequent point of interest, and Keiji never quite had an issue with doing his homework in the first place.

A different issue resurfaced though:

Aiyaka had made friends quite easily, fitting into a group of assorted classmates no problem.

Keiji, however, had not.

Evidently, Aiyaka had found no serious interest and befriending Keiji in the long term.

By the time they were dismissed to lunch it didn’t matter though.

At maximum speed, Keiji sprinted to the great hall, past classmates and older students and all the people he had no investment in.

The Hufflepuff third year Bokuto Koutarou was already at the lunch table, deeply involved in a discussion with a Ravenclaw third year, a good friend of his and ignoring the half-eaten plate in front of him.

“No Kuroo, I swear I saw it happen! It was super wild because—“

“Everything you say is ‘super wild’ because everything you say is super exaggerated,” Kuroo stated, with that ever-present, lop-sided grin on his face.

“You just say that because— Oh Akashi, you are on my side, aren’t you?” Bokuto urged upon noticing him.

“I will be on your side when you learn to say my name correctly. It’s Akaashi.” He sat down with them.

“What your kohai  _ meant _ to say was—“ Kuroo stated in that tone of voice that Keiji learned to dislike, “—that it is bull that you spent all night playing a game of Quidditch against the local house ghosts, since they aren’t actually corporal enough to play Quidditch against the living, and this ‘castle’ isn’t even haunted enough to—“

“What I  _ meant _ to say was—“ Keiji interrupted, pointedly looking at Kuroo across the table, “—that a game against a team of ghosts sounds quite interesting.” His stomach quite forcefully reminded him of the food on the table, it looked delightful. “Ghosts from different time periods ought to play by different Quidditch rules, there would probably also be a mix of uniforms. Not even to speak of their everyday vocabulary and grammar which also changes a lot through time, making communication quite the issue, let alone the actual gameplay.”

Bokuto nodded quite enthusiastically at the statement, pointing backwards and forwards between Kuroo and Keiji to illustrate the significance of that point.

“Bah!” Kuroo exclaimed. “Quidditch isn’t  _ that _ old in japan, so it’s not like the rules changed  _ that _ much, and it’s not like our Bo here couldn’t understand a person from—“

“What Kuroo  _ meant _ to say was that—“antagonizing Kuroo had become an old game, but Keiji had yet to quite understand why he was so fiercely on Bokuo’s side under all circumstances, let alone why he was so fiercely against every word ever uttered by Kuroo“—the ghosts presumably argued due to prior disagreements, but used their respective time periods as an excuse to hide personal opinions behind ‘facts’.”

Bokuto pointed at Keiji again, nodding quite excessively some more.

A group of people passed them.

“Kenma!” Kuroo pleaded, reaching for someone standing behind Keiji with both arms, “Support me! I need someone on my side!”

A familiar voice groaned and then stepped next to Keiji.

“That depends, what’s the argument?”

“Bo claims he played a Quidditch team of ghosts last night and I call bull.”

Kenma thought for a moment.

“Alright, I’ll join you.” He sat down next to Keiji and stole a piece of food from his plate. “There is no way we have a Quiddich team worth of ghosts at this school. Juzei’s only six years old.”

“My argument exactly!” Kuroo threw both hands in the air.

“ _ I _ find it highly unlikely—“ Keiji countered, “—that there is not enough people that died in this  _ place _ , castle or not, since all of human history is so long, and japan is quite an old country in particular, with long traditions dating way back.” 

Kenma mustered him for a moment.

“Why are you so protective of Bokuto?”

Cold sweat ran down Keiji’s body.

“Why are you so protective of Kuroo?”

“Because every once in a blue moon,” Kenma answered without hesitance, “he is right about things.”

“Wow,” Kuroo said sarcastically, “feeling very supported here. Be that half-hearted support as it may, we can test Bo’s newfound Quidditch skills at the next practice match.”

Bokuto’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Oh right! Akaashi, you’ll come watch, won’t you? It’ next week!”

“Of course, Bokuto-san.”

“Oh I see where your priorities lie, Bo.” Kuroo said with that grin of his. “But since you mention that: tryouts will be too soon, and Kenma here will blow everyone here out of the water!” The grin Kuroo wore at that statement was new, it was something bigger and brighter, one Keiji couldn’t quite interpret.

“If you called me here just to exaggerate my skill set again I’ll leave.”

“You know,” Kuroo said, ignoring Kenma’s protest, “Kenma and I were in the little league team in our area, and Kenma outplayed all the other kids ‘cause he was way smarter than them.”

Bokuto ‘woa’-ed and even Keiji was impressed.

“Those were children, like us,” Kenma countered, displeased, “here we’re playing against lots of people older than us, some are already legal.”

“But I know you can do it.” 

The voice for that line was low and private and said with such conviction that Keiji was both intimidated and convinced.

Kenma was still unhappy.

* * *

Quidditch was truly thrilling to watch.

Keiji had always had some or other interest in sports, but there was a certain degree of extra thrill that came when people just flew through the air and played a ball game as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Huffllepuff played against Ravenclaw, and despite it not being an official game, there was a small crowd of people watching.

A ball that Keiji had forgotten the name of flew right passed his head, and he ducked reflexively to not get hit by it. A quite large Ravenclaw, possibly even one in his last year, followed the ball, and Keiji had to make space for him to not be struck by THAT. 

The force with which he struck the ball across the field right into a Hufflepuff goal was truly intimidating, and a dreadful shiver ran down his body, that he could feel in his very bones.

Suddenly he understood what Kenma’s reservations about joining were. They were both just eleven years old, and these were experienced kids in the other team, with more smarts and body mass than he could muster at the best of times.

A loud ‘whoohoo!’ Thundered through the field, catching Keiji’s attention.

Bokuto Koutarou smashed the same sort of ball through one of the Ravenclaw rings, getting a higher point reward for it.

He exclaimed a loud ‘hey hey hey!’ In celebration, and the small crowd of people cheered with him.

Keiji didn’t react at all.

He was shell-shocked.

He felt like he had been splashed in the face with cold water.

From a Quidditch field away Bokuto grinned brightly, and it was so engaging Keiji briefly thought it was just the two of them on that field.

He had to play with this boy somehow, come what may.

* * *

There was an unofficial game between Slytherin and Gryffindor that they all went to. Kuroo and Bokuto gave Kenma and Keiji tips who to be wary of on each team.

There were people that Keiji already knew, his friends from the train.

Like Shinichi, the intimidating Gryffindor 4 th year. A strong chaser that Keiji was truly frightened by. 

Or Izumi, the tall and loud girl that had welcomed him into the cabin, just as loud and confident being a beater on her broom as she had been sitting in that train.

There were also new faces he didn’t know that Kuroo had called “threats”:

Iwaizumi, one of Gryffindor chasers, a 3 rd year, and the next big ace player according to Bokuto.

Or Sawamura, Griffindoors 2 nd year beater, Kuroo explained he falls under the radar a lot, being outshone by the other players, but not to be underestimated.

And by far the most dreaded player by both Bokuto and Kuroo was their Keeper Yaku, a 2nd year, that was impossible to get past.

Keiji could see what the two boys meant as he watched the game unfold, Yaku was a truly impressive player, and not to be impressed by taller, stronger, and more experienced Slytherins.

Like Hitori, the Slytherin 3 rd year from the train that Keiji was honestly intimidated by without seeing him as a chaser.

Kuroo and Bokuto particularly guided his attention to the two Slytherin beaters, both 3 rd years. Hanamaki and Matsukawa. Both sly and skilled, and somehow making excellent and head-spinning teamwork happen.

Kuroo also directed his attention to one Yamaka Mika, a 4 th year chaser. She didn’t seem like much admittedly, but Kuroo said that was just a show.

\----

After that game, the tryouts happened. It had been a few days, but the fear still shook through Keiji’s bones. He applied nonetheless.

Keiji crammed himself into the middle of the intimidatingly large group of people trying out.

Just the number of fellow first-years alone was striking more fear and dread into his heart.

“For tryouts, you will be playing with one of our own,” the team captain said, “Bokuto, if you would be so good.”

Keiji immediately perked up as Bokuto flew to their location from wherever he had been hiding.

“Hey, hey, hey newbies! Pleasure to play with you all!”

There was general mumbling from the crowd, and Keiji was so excited he forgot to react.

“So if there will be any volunteers—“

“—I will.” Keiji said with conviction, stepping forward out of the crowd with his hand raised.

The fact that he could barely ride a broom be damned. The fact that he had been too intimidated to perform before be damned. He would be flying alongside Bokuto Koutarou.

“Akashi, you’re trying out!”

“It’s Akaashi.”

“You know each other?” The captain asked with slightly bemused interest.

“We’re friends!” Bokuto declared, beaming. And Keiji’s heart swelled with pride.

“And with a little luck you will be teammates,” the captain cheered them on, “well then, show me what you got.”

* * *

Keiji had flown horribly.

He couldn’t deal with the bat in his hand and the unfamiliar transportation and he was still intimidated by the height from the ground, and the gawking crowd and unfamiliar vocabulary not to mention.

So he really couldn’t understand why the hell the captain had chosen him.

“Because of how Bokuto was treating you compared to the others.”

Keiji didn’t understand and was honestly still sulking about his meager performance.

“He was cheerful and patient when he was helping you. He concentrated more on how he could aid  _ you _ rather than on how he himself had to perform.”

_ So I was so bad that I distracted him from his performance anxiety? _

“With the other contestants, he was competitive at best, closed off at worst. While a competitive Bokuto is very strong, it also holds the danger of Bokuto losing his cool under any minor inconvenience. A Bokuto that loses his cool is bad for the entire team.”

Keiji looked at his captain doubtfully, surely that wasn’t all of it.

“Bokuto is by far our strongest attacker, and he is only getting stronger. Bokuto is the Key turning point of our offense, and when he has a bad day, all of us do.

But when he was flying with you, points and performances didn’t matter, he just wanted to fly and play. He had the best and calmest time playing with you, compared to the others.”

Keiji sighed. So his role in the team was as a Bokuto buffer. Not that he minded being in charge of Bokuto’s welfare, but he sure would have liked being of actual value to the team.

“Plus,” his captain added with a bit of cheek, “I saw your eagerness and determination, and I see great potential in your future.”

\--------

“You got on the team?”

Kenma shrugged, not looking happy with it at all.

“He is gonna blow all of you out of the water!” Kuroo exclaimed excitedly, grabbing Kenma’s shoulders and shaking him in his eagerness.

“As you can see, I only got on because Kuro is setting impossible expectations for me.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am—“

“Aghaashi!”

An incredible force knocked Keiji out of his concept and off his feet.

“You got on the team! You got on the team! We need to practice right now and every day and always until forever!”

“Sure, Bokuto-san.”

“Exhibit A:” Kenma said, gesturing at the Hufflebundle, “Koutarou has become an undefeatable force to be reckoned with, so you have put too much pressure on me and I will fail miserably.”

“But we’re not playing Bo, we’re playing Hufflepuff,” Kuroo said in a low and sly tone of voice that Keiji couldn’t place again, but there was a Slytherin sort of energy to it, “and we’re not defeating him by force, we are defeating him by other means.”

Kenma pouted angrily at Kuroo.

“Hey, I’m just repeating what you taught me.”

“I know, that’s what’s so annoying.”

* * *

Dreadful, terrible, no good at all.

The game was in full action and Bokuto was performing terribly.

Keiji was forced to watch as Bokuto desperately tried to block a Ravenclaw 2 nd year, who was not irritated at all and instead maneuvered easily around him, scoring point after point.

With each point scored Bokuto got angrier and louder.

“If he would just let me do my job of keeping then at least the scored points would be my fault, not his. Fukunaga is a strong opponent, but not impossible to play against as long as you stay calm.” The captain sighed, “Bokuto just wants to show off.” 

“Why would he want to show off,” Keiji inquisitioned, “didn’t you say the game against Ravenclaw was going to be easy, isn’t it enough to play normally?”

“I think it’s because of the new members,” the captain answered, “new meat, so he wants to make an impression.”

Keiji sighed.

Kuroo flew over to them.

“Well, are you proud of the impact you left?” He asked with that annoying grin of his. “You’ve made Bo quite the rascal, thanks for the help.”

“This has nothing to do with me.”

“Oh, it has everything to do with you.”

_ What do you know that I don’t? _

Instead of trying anymore, Bokuto had opted to sulking in front of the goals, and only half-assing any attempts of goalkeeping.

“Stop antagonizing the opponent and start helping us, Kuro.” Kenma urged, dragging Kuroo away from Keiji and his Captain. As they flew off Kenma could still vaguely hear, “just because Koutarou is sulking doesn’t mean they have become weak.”

“I have an idea,” the captain said, looking lighter now, “ask Bokuto to show you a fluke.”

“A fluke?”

“You don’t need to know what it is, Bokuto is going to show you after all.”

Keiji nodded, not quite understanding, but trusting his captain.

With an unsteady broom, he approached the sulking Bokuto.

“Bokuto-san?”

Bokuto grunted at him in acknowledgment.

“Would you be so good as to show me what a fluke is?”

Bokuto’s face lit up slowly.

“What?”

“I was told a fluke would be good here, but I don’t know what that is since this is all new for me, so I would be delighted if you showed me how to do that.”

Bokuto’s face lit up fully, and back to full cheer he said,

“Okay it’s super simple: you get yourself a quaffle from somewhere, fly as fast as you can to the Ravenclaw keeper, and just as you are about to shoot your goal you throw the ball to me instead, understood?”

Keiji nodded, they could make it work somehow.

He saw a quaffle being passed between two Ravenclaw players, he quickly flew between them and stole their ball from mid-air. Then he shot off to the Ravenclaw goals, where their keeper already had him in his visor. He pulled his arm back as if to throw the ball, but then in the last second called out for Bokuto to catch it.

Without breaking a sweat, Bokuto caught the ball and immediately scored a point with it, leaving the Ravenclaw keeper befuddled.

A light lit up in Keij's brain, he was familiar with that technique.

They use these sorts of passes in basketball.

With loud cheering Bokuto signified that he was back in top shape, they could turn the tides after all.

———

“We won! We won!” Kuroo cheered.

He slung an arm around Kenma as they walked down the hallway back to their dorms, squeezing Kenma so much it seemed uncomfortable.

“Secretly aiding our sixth-year seeker on catching the snitch because their first-year seeker would surely miss it with his unfamiliarity to the game was a BRILLIANT move based on character qualities and differences, I dare say. Excellent planning Kenma!”

Kenma pushed Kuroo’s arm off.

“It’s no planning if it’s basic gameplay.” He stormed quite a bit faster than Kuroo, who was not at all irritated or to be left behind. “And we only won by ten points. If Koutarou had had the chance to make that last ball we would have lost, even with the snitch.”

“You see? I’m the best after all!” Bokuto cheered with a big smile, then he grabbed Keiji by the arm and dragged him up an unfamiliar staircase. “We have to go this way guys, see you at dinner!”

They walked a moment longer up this unfamiliar staircase that would certainly nor lead to the Hufflepuff dormitories in the basement before Keiji started questioning any of this.

“Bokuto-san what is the meaning of this?”

Bokuto stopped.

“I wanted to tell you something.” His voice was more silent than Keiji had ever heard it, but the tone of it was nonetheless calm and collected.

“Having you on the play-field with me was incredibly helpful, if it wasn’t for you I would have spent the rest of the game sulking and I would have just dragged the whole team down as I do. You make me want to try harder, to be a better teammate, and because that left a big impact on me, I want you to know my biggest secret.”

Bokuto took a deep breath as if to collect brevity. Keiji squeezed his hands into tight fists, to deal with the anticipation.

“There is no ghost Quidditch team.”

Wait, what?

Well he had sort of expected as much, but it certainly hadn’t been the great reveal he had anticipated.

“At all times my greatest fear is that my friends will get bored of me and leave me behind. So to not have that happen I always pull some sort of stunt or prank or something, and when I don’t have something I get nervous to get left behind, and I make something up.”

Bokuto breathed deeply again, voice shaking only a little as he shared his secret.

“Sometimes I make up lies so that my friends don’t lose interest in me.”

Keiji was shell-shocked. This ought to be an intimate secret, and to just be shared like that, with a first-year that Bokuto had only known a few weeks…

Keiji took his hand.

“Bokuto-san, you are plenty interesting and delightful enough that you don’t need to pull stupid stunts or make up lies to have your friends like you. I promise you that Kuroo-san and Kozume-san and I have no intention of leaving you, whether you have a good day or a bad week or do something incredibly stupid.”

Bokuto grinned so brightly that it made the whole staircase light up.

“Thanks, Akaashi, you’re the best!”

**Author's Note:**

> I want to formally apologise to tbe readers of all my wips because my brain decided to devorce haikyuu and find a new hyper fixiation to write fics for 
> 
> Chances arw as usual my brain will turn back to haikyuu eventually but it is currently OBSESSED wirh another fandom ans refuses to let me write fir these little fuckers rip
> 
> I’ve been hyper fixiating on haikyuu for 3 years nkw though which is LONG for my usual standards so i don’t dread too much that i will eventually find back to my babies. Dread it not, we will be fine
> 
> Anyways thanks for your patience and you eyes and attention i wish you all a good day and good year <3


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